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Let me say something about ultimate foundations.

It seems to me that different societies have different views of where ultimate value resides; and they build their culture -- including their notion of justice -- around that value.

For example, Medieval European society sought salvation. Salvation was the ultimate value. In our society, there are several contending views of the highest value. One is to place the highest value on the freedom of each individual. Our idea of moral or human rights is a device we establish in order to protect that value against other moral or non-moral concerns. Another view is that human welfare is the highest value. This often develops into an ethical theory that tries to maximize some sort of human good -- such as happiness. Other views suggest that we place the greatest value on some form of equality or moral development or individual autonomy.

If we look at it this way, then our idea of justice is dependent on our culture and our history. It will depend on our ideas about where ultimate value lies.

What sort of proof is there for these views of ultimate value? I'm not sure. When John Stuart Mill considered the ultimate "proof" of the principle of utility, he remarked that the answers to ultimate questions are not capable of proof. But he also allowed, in the first chapter of his Utilitarianism, that "considerations may be presented capable of determining the intellect either to give or to withhold its assent to the doctrine; and this is equivalent to proof." We need to ask ourselves what considerations may be available that are capable of convincing us of one view rather than another.